Tag: review

20XX

In the year 20XX, a bad Mega Man clone called Mighty Number 9 was created. It was made to satisfy the craving for oldschool 2D platforming of Megaa Man fans. It failed on all accounts, with poor mechanics, weak controls, obnoxious cutscenes and uninspired level design. However, Batterystaple Games stepped in to counter Mighty No. 9 with their own take on the genre, 20XX.

— Not the intro for Mega Man 2

So, 20XX, I have waited about two years for this game to come out of Early Access [1].
Was it worth it?

Yes! This is the Mega Man game that we have been waiting for. It has all the things that we want from such a game, as well as some spicy additions that are new to the formula.

What is it?

20XX is a 2D platformer that takes heavy inspiration from the Mega Man series, especially Mega Man X, and then spices it up with Roguelike elements.

On the Mega Man side of things, it has all of the staples that you would expect, dashing, wall-jumping, and charging your weapon. There are now two characters to play as, Nina, with the “arm-cannon”, as well as Ace, who uses short range melee weapons instead.

The roguelike heritage of the game manifests itself in semi-procedural level generation (Rogue Knight), random upgrades, item drops and shops (Binding Of Isaac), and a very light meta-progression, akin to Crypt Of the Necrodancer.

Interestingly, the original Mega Man arrangement still stands: Your fight 8 bosses in a non-sequential order, and you can obtain their weapons after defeating them. The order can not be chosen freely, but after each boss you can choose one of 3 levels, until you have beaten all 8 of them, at which point you progress to the two final stages.

Gameplay / Impressions

So far, I have put about 25 hours into the game. It is very well suited for medium sized gaming sessions (30 to 60 minutes).

Each level lasts about 3 to 5 minutes, which to me is a good size for a Jump&Run game. (This was one of the mistakes of Might No. 9, the levels felt very long, without having much actual content.)

The things that stand out most are the absolutely amazing soundtrack and the super crisp controls. Simply put, this play like a real Mega Man game, the right “gamefeel” is there, and in some aspects it is even better than the originals.

The available upgrades feel significant and make traversing the levels very enjoyable. Upgrades to jump height, running speed, and even things like air-dashes and double jumps are available, which makes hunting for upgrades feel worthwhile.

It also makes for some hard choices in the in-game shops. Do you take the cannon upgrade or the one that reduces your health but makes you faster?
Meaningful choices in games, good times. 🙂

The developers also managed to inject some longevity into the genre, most of which comes from the roguelike elements. The level generation keeps things fresh, and in case it becomes too easy, there are many modifiers that can be switched on to make the game harder, e.g. more enemies, longer levels, more damage from environmental hazards etc.

Did I mention the soundtrack? I guess I did, but let me do so again. The chiptune soundtrack by cityfires has passed my personal threshold of “Would I listen to this at work?”.
The tunes are driving the gameplay forward with simple but sweet melodies, just as they did in the 80s and 90s Mega Man games.

Critique / Negatives

Not all is perfect, I have some gripes with the game as well.

First are the special weapons that you receive from the bosses. Many of them feel superfluous, as they do not add anything except for an easy way to finish off the boss who has them as their weakness.
Also, their special functions could be explained a little better. I only learned that the Icicle cannon can freeze wall-mounted hazards by watching another player do it in co-op. An (optional) tutorial with a 10-second animation would work wonders here.

As it stands I usually only pick up and use two out of the 8 weapons, the rest seem useless. (But the basic weapons are powerful and fun to use, so this is not too bad.)

Secondly, there is very crass difficulty spike after defeating the 8 Robot Masters bosses. The ninth level is a series of bottomless pits with moving platforms, lasers and many enemies above it. Many of the jumps are very tricky, and having lots of enemies flying around only makes it harder.

The level feels a bit like a “gear-check”, as it is made exceptionally easier by having one or more of several upgrades (e.g. the double jump or hover boots, the anti-knockback body armor or many speed/jump enhancements.)

I think having such a level in the game is fine as it separates amateurs like me from the hardcore players, but I think it would have been prudent to move this to one of the “expert” modifiers that are optional, instead of having it in the standard level rotation. (I personally think the level is harder than level 10 and both of the final boss fights.)

Other features

Some features that have been cropping up in many Roguelikes are also present:

Daily and weekly runs with a fixed random seed (everybody plays the same generated run).

Leaderboards for these runs

Boss rush mode

Online Co-op mode (I only tested this briefly)

Verdict

This game is more fun than both Mighty No. 9 as well as the Mega Man Legacy Collection. I say, if you enjoy this type of Run&Gun games and have no problems with “random” levels, go for it, it´s a great game!

Footnotes:

[1] Early access: I personally don´t like it. I do not drive unfinished cars, I do not eat half cooked food, so I certainly won´t bother with unfinished games.